Update 2 at Eclipse

Hi all. This past weekend was the American Whippet Club Eastern Specialty. Tyler and I went with only two dogs, Vanna & puppy Rayne. We didn't do squat all weekend, unlike last year when Vanna won WB, BOW, BOB & Group 3, and Rio was RWD, Best Puppy & puppy Group 4. I guess you really can't have it all...lol.

But I got to see a lot of people and friends that I did see at the National in Atlanta, but with such a big show, didn't get to spend a lot of time with. Friday night we went out to dinner for Amanda's 25th birthday (lord I remember when she was a chubby 5 year old). We had a great time with her new beau Jonathan, Susie & her friend, Barb, Vince & Laura.

Saturday was the Specialty day and we had the thrill of cheering on Amanda & Tawny (Rio's sister) on to Best of Breed and a Group 2. Although it was very exciting, it amazes me to no end how one person will actually talk to a judge and can fix a show so that someone won't win. It's just mindboggeling to me. Anyway, it was exciting just the same.

Saturday night Lesley, Jeannie, Allan, Tyler and I ordered pizza and had it delivered to the Red Roof where we were staying. We sat outside drinking beer, bloody marys and eating pizza.

Sunday was another day that was mindboggeling as to how a judge will do just what you expect them to do, cause of the closeness a person has with that judge. Or that person has that judge in their pocket. Don't know how that works.

Tyler was bored at times until he discovered that Lesley could get U-Tube on her I-Phone, and he watched You-Tube videos of the Family Guy, the Simpsons and who knows what else. I don't know how many times she had to recharge her phone cause Tyler had it constantly.

Today was the last day of school, so Tyler is home now and already driving me crazy with lets do this, lets do that, and so on. We'll go to Dorney Park one day, and we'll go to the Smithsonian sometime, and maybe to the Philadelphia Zoo. We'll keep busy over the summer with stuff I'm sure.

Till next time...

Our First Snow Tubing Adventure

Tyler and I went snow tubing with the cub scouts and we had a great time. We went in those family tubes, I along with Tyler and two other scouts for the first few times down the hill. When you get to the top you have to jump out of the tube so they can unhook it, and I must have looked like the Michelin man falling on my ass all the time. I finally watched how some of the other adults get out and tried this and it was oh so easy.

Eventually the other boys went on their way with others and as the sun went down it was just Tyler and I going down in the tube. At the top they ask you if you want to go straight or spin, we all yelled, spin, spin, spin, so spin we went. You must be going down that hill at least 30 mph, and the spin of the G-Force is quite strong.

Well, the one time Tyler and I went down by ourselves, we said to spin. I was sitting directly across from Tyler and the guy sent us down the hill with a fantastic spin. We are part way down the hill, and as I'm watching Tyler I see him flip over the side of the snow tube and he's hanging onto the rope for dear life yelling "mommy, mommy, help me!!!". I crawled my way across the tube and grabbed him by the coat as he is flying on behind the tube, and hauled his butt inside. I laughed so hard I cried. And he's yelling, "that was soooooo awesome!!!". He looked just like Indiana Jones being dragged behind the vehicle. I started humming the Indiana Jones theme song as I was laughing.

After reaching the bottom of the hill, I made Tyler go back up and down again. Although we didn't spin the next few times, he did go down with some hesitation. And the last few times down we actually did the spinning thing again. You know what they say, "if you fall off the horse, you need to get right back on". I'm very proud of him for that.

Our first snow tubing adventure will be one we will never forget.

Tyler's wrestling II

Tyler had a dual wrestling meet yesterday and the coach let him wrestle on the JV squad again. So he got to wrestle twice last night. The first match he went 1 whole period then in the second period he got pinned. It was a good effort though. He always somehow manages to get pinned.

The second match he went all three periods and although he lost the decision, he didn't get pinned. I am very proud of him for not giving up and going out there and trying his hardest. Maybe one of these days....

Tyler's wrestling

Remember the story about Tyler and his wrestling "expedition", under the heading Time Flies? Well the coach had enough confidence in him to put him on the JV squad last week and although he lost both matches, he should have had the 2nd kid. So the coach decided to put him on the JV squad for tomorrow's two matches. Tyler does okay in his exhibition matches, but seems to forget everything when he's in the spotlight. I sure hope Tyler can get it all together to put a win on the board for his team. Say a prayer for him.

Time Flies

Wow, where did the time go!!! I can't believe I haven't posted anything on my blog since October 2008!!! Wow, what's been happening here lately? I'll have to give you a brief overview from then until now.

October: Steeler lands safely in Germany and new owners Joachim & Werner just love him. He was shown a few times in Germany and at his first show he won his class. A few weeks later Steeler, now renamed Stevy was awarded his first CC.

November: Tyler started wrestling with the booster club and a few weeks into practice they have what they call wrestle-offs to determine if you will be on the actual JV or Varsity team or just wrestling exhibition. Well, Tyler won his first match, but lost his next two and I asked him to ask the coach what he would be wrestling. So he went to ask and came back and said, "Coach says I'll be wrestling EXPEDITION". I asked him if he was going on a trip or what...lol.

The middle of November Melissa, Dana, Shelbi, Louise, Gloria and I went to the Philadelphia Kennel Club bench show which was held in Reading this year. We had our bench decorated with bunnies and stuff and we got a nice ribbon for being finalists. I think the human bunnies were what got us into the finals. We met a very nice man from California named Michael, and being he was benched right next to us, we let him join our little circle, offered him some of our beverages and he still kicked our butt in the ring. So much for trying to get the competition drunk. The almighty Vanna won one day and Melissa's Hank won on another day so they both picked up a few more points.

December: Well December is all about Christmas so getting the tree trimmed and the house decorated was in order. Everything was quiet around here for Christmas and New Year, but I didn't get to see the ball drop on New Years Eve cause I was busy watching Tyler shoot his new 20 guage shotgun he got from Santa.

Tyler also liked the Webkinz Santa brought him too.

I guess that's it for now, I'll try to keep things updated better.

Tyler's Mishap

Sunday August 24th started out as any other day here at Eclipse, playing with the current puppies, cleaning up after the big dogs, and keeping an eye on Tyler. Tyler kept bugging and bugging me to go for a walk so he could ride his Razor Scooter while I walked on the road. About 3:30 pm we headed out for our walk with Tyler riding his scooter (it's one of those you put your one foot on and push with the other, like a skateboard with a handle). Up around the bend we went, and as I got to the top, Tyler was already on the way down and picking up speed. I yelled to him to stop or slow down, but he couldn't hear me. He reached the bottom of the gradual grade and all I saw was Tyler go ass over end and the scooter flying. He crashed pretty bad so I started running to him, but he got right up, grabbed his scooter and started back so I slowed down a bit. I thought he was okay until he got to me for a closer view. The whole right side of his face was scraped badly with a bid knocker on his forehead, his right hand had a small cut on it, along with a scrape on his right forearm. He also had two nasty looking round wounds on his left inside foot where the macadam from the road had scraped it raw, pretty deep too.

As we were walking back to the house, a neighbor passed by in their pickup truck and saw Tyler crying as I was carrying his scooter, so they turned around and loaded us in the back of their pickup and took us home. We went into the house and I gave Tyler some Tylenol with Codeine which I had from when he broke his arm two years ago. He was lying on the sofa, crying and crying and crying, so I put some cold washcloths on all his boo-boo areas. I checked out his head more closely, and saw that it was only a bad scrape (there was just a little blood), but he kept saying he had a headache, so to be on the safe side, I took him to the emergency room. They did xrays of his clavical, shoulder, and collar bone along with a CAT scan of his head. All was clear so they did a thorough cleaning of his wounds.

I am so glad I took him into the emergency room cause they cleaned up his wounds so much better than I could. And with the bad bump on his head, I wanted to make sure all was okay inside his head.

The next day was the first day of school, and all the kids and teachers and bus driver wondered what happened to him. I'm so glad they didn't take school pictures the first day!!! I think Tyler has learned a valuable lesson about wearing a helmut and shoes when he rides his scooter again (although he hasn't ridden it since). Thanks to the emergency staff at the hospital, they were so caring and gentle with him.

Till next time......I hope not like this.

My Sweetest Memories

This thread will probably be updated from time to time as more Sweet Memories are made, so check back often.

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>>February 7, 2001 - The day my son Tyler Clay was born will be THE sweetest memory of all.
>>Tyler catching a big fish (the grin on his face is priceless)
>>Tyler playing soccer and scoring in the wrong goal.
>>Tyler wrestling and winning a match only because the other team had a forfeit at his weight.
>>Tyler playing t-ball and forgetting to run to first base.
>>Tyler running his car in the Pinewood Derby for Scouts.
>>Tyler starting Karate and progressing onto his yellow belt.
>>Watching Tyler shoot his BB gun and hit the targets.
>>Watching Tyler learning to ride his Razor Scooter.

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>>February 14, 2006 - Zoey winning the Breed at the "Garden" and onto a Group 4.
>>Zoey's many Best of Breeds, Group Placements.
>>Zoey's 18 All-Breed Best In Shows.
>>Zoey being named 2003 Canada's Hound of the Year.
>>Zoey being an extremely happy "camper" and living out her life at Camp Whippet like the princess she knows she is and deserves to be.
>>May 31, 2008 - Vanna winning Best of Breed from the Open Bitch class at the Eastern Whippet Regional Specialty and on to a Hound Group 3. Before showing I remember standing at the trophy table and looking over the trophies. I came across the Best of Breed trophy where Zoey's name is engraved from when she won it in 2004. With a tear in my eye, I lightly rubbed my fingers over her name and mumbled, "I love you sweet girl". I know that day the Whippet Gods were looking over me and let the judge find Vanna worthy of being awarded Best of Breed.

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I have been an active competition trapshooter for the past two decades and I've shot live birds here and abroad. Some sweet memories from shooting are:
>>Winning the Ladies 16-Yard Championship in 1987 (198 x 200), 1988 (198 x 200) & 1999 (197 x 200).
>>Winning the Ladies Handicap Championship in 1988.
>>Winning the Ladies Doubles Championship in 1985, 1990 & 1991.
>>Winning the Ladies All-Around Championship in 1991 & 1995.
>>Breaking my first 100 straight in Handicap in August of 1983.
>>Placing in the Top Ten of the Lehigh Valley Trapshooters League in 2006.
>>Placing 3rd in Portugal while shooting live birds in a field of approximately 500+ shooters. >>First and second places were awarded to Joaquim Morato and Bruno Pardini (two of Europes best shooters).
>>Winning the Ladies World Live Bird Championship in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1989.
>>Winning many live bird trophies in the United States, and several PA Ladies Championships.
>>Winning 5 belt buckles in one weekend of live bird shooting in NC.

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I guess that's all for now, but I know there will be more.

Disney World 2007

Last year we took a trip to Florida's Disney World. We decided to go over the Christmas vacation that way hubby and I would be off work and we didn't need to take Tyler out of school. It was a nice drive down, although a bit long, but I'd rather drive than fly anyway. That way I have all the things I need with me all the time.

Tyler was really looking forward to it and saved up his money (he got a dollar for every 100% he brought home from school, it ended up being somewhere around $60.00). He had more than enough money as he's been saving for a long time. As the time grew nearer, Tyler became more and more excited, but one day said to me, "Mommy, I don't think I want to go to Florida." I was shocked and asked why. He said he really wants to go, but he really wants to stay home to get his presents from Santa. It nearly broke my heart. I did tell him that there are children all over the world, and every one of them gets presents on Christmas and I really do think Santa goes to Florida too.

In the mean time, an aquaintance of mine from a Whippet board I am on was going to Disney with her hubby, and she asked if she could send Tyler a postcard from Disney. I said sure, knowing Tyler would love that. When the postcard arrived, it was addressed to Tyler and it said something like, 'Hi Tyler, I was just down visiting with Mickey before my big day, and he told me you were coming down to see him. I'll make sure to bring your presents to Florida for you. Love, Santa.' Well, Tyler's eyes lit up, and he had the biggest grin and wanted to know when we were leaving.

We arrived in Disney on the 23rd at around 4 pm. We got all checked in and decided to head out to the park. Tyler wanted to do the Magic Kingdom, so off we went. We had no problem getting to the park, and took the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom. I know why they call it the Magic Kingdom, as it really does have a magical feel about it when you step foot inside. We did a few rides, and saw the gorgeous light parade and the fantabulous fireworks display. There are no other fireworks like it anywhere. We headed back to the hotel and we got lost leaving the parking lot of Disney...lol, but we eventually found the way. Upon arriving back at the hotel, hubby took Tyler to the pool next door, as they had a big pool, a whirlpool and a sliding board into the pool. Tyler was so excited about the slide into the pool, he went right up and came down into the water without even taking off his shoes...lol.

Monday was Christmas eve, and we drove to the west side of Florida to visit some old friends of mine that I used to shoot live birds with, Doc & Ruth Coniglio. After getting lost a few times, we arrived at their beautiful house and sat, drank and talked about old times. It was wonderful meeting up with Doc & Ruth again, as I may never see them again. Ruthie went overboard and had gifts for everyone, hubby, Tyler and myself. We had a great time, but eventually had to say goodbye and head back to the hotel.

That night when Tyler fell asleep, I snuck downstairs and brought up the big box of presents I brought along for him. We had a small suite and I put them in the living room on and around the coffee table. Of course the only day Tyler gets up before us is Christmas Day, and this year was no exception. He yelled for us to get up cause Santa left presents in the living room. He was so excited. Tyler opened his presents but couldn't figure out how Santa got into the hotel room, as the window wasn't broken and the door was locked from the inside. To this day he can't figure that out.

We headed off to Animal Kingdom on Christmas Day but we didn't see very much of it as it was soooooo full, it was like being packed in a sardine can with no where to go. Other days we went to MGM Studios, Epcot and Sea World. Tyler decided he wants to be a whale trainer when he grows up. He liked all the wild rides he went on, and we even went back to the Magic Kingdom a second time as that's where Tyler wanted to go, he loved the Magic Kingdom. On the Sunday before we were due to go home, we took Tyler to the beach, where we eventually met up with Jonathan and Zoey. You'll find that story under one of the Life & Times of Zoey stories.

We had a fantastic trip and I'd go again in a heartbeat. It was so beautiful there, and Tyler had such a great time. Till next time.

A Day In The Park

On Tuesday Tyler's Karate school took a day off and everyone went to Knoebels Amusement Park. Tyler's friend Shawn and his mom followed us there. We arrived at 11:00 am when the park opened and got an all day ride pass for the boys. Tyler is quite the daredevil and he LOVES all the crazy rides, and he went on the Phoenix twice and Twister once. Both are wooden roller coasters that go about 100 mph (or so it seems to this 40+ year old mom).

The Fandango is another of Tyler's favorites. It is a big thing that hangs from the middle and seats people all around the outside, and they strap you in electronically, cause when this thing starts to swing back and forth and twist you won't fall out, it fits very tight against you. It swings actually about 100 degrees and when you are up in the air, you actually feel like you are going to fall backwards upsidown. Needless to say, mom didn't go on this one, neither did Tyler's friend Shawn.

The haunted house is another of Tyler's favorites, and we did that twice also. He's been in the HH about 6 times now, and I think these last two times he actually kept his eyes opened...lol. We also went on the Flume ride and the Skloosh where you get 120% soaked and when you get off the boat and stand on the observation deck you get hit with a wall of water that if you didn't get wet enough on the ride, you're done for here...lol.

It was a great day at the park, one in which I've been going to for about 40 years. The park is very shady with trees all around, it's free to get in just to walk around, unlike many other amusement parks these days, and you can even take your dog along in the park. We are looking forward to the next time.

Tyler gets his yellow belt

After 3 months of hard work, Tyler was able to test for his yellow belt in Karate, actually it's Tae Kwon Do, a Korean form of Karate. He had a little problem with his 6 step sequence as he was adding two extra steps, but the instructor let him do it over (3 times a charm). He needed to do his first two forms Kuk Mu One & Kuk Mu Two which he did very well. He also needed to break a board and unfortunately he got a board with a big knot right in the middle, but after about 20 or 30 kicks, the board broke in half. Instructor Rich was very proud that he didn't get discouraged and kept kicking and kicking and kicking until it broke. So now it's time to watch out, and don't piss off the kid, as he'll kick your butt.

Tyler started Karate

Well, being Tyler doesn't want to wrestle, play baseball or soccer, we decided to enroll him in Karate. Along with his friend Shawn, he goes to Karate three nights a week. Being he is just starting, he is only a white belt, but he is working hard to get his yellow belt which he can try for in another 2 months (he has to be a white belt for 3 months). Tyler seems to really enjoy himself, and is starting to "get it" as at first I thought he never would.

The instructor is a very nice young man who is in the Black Belt Hall of Fame and his training goes directly back to Grandmaster Lee Won-Kuk. This Grandmaster only allowed students of the HIGHEST character to join his academy and the training was extremely strict and disciplined. Grandmaster Lee began training a young boxer by the name of Duk Sung Son, who became a Grandmaster also. While in the USA, Grandmaster Son taught Joe Trovato, who later relocated to the Pocono Mountains in PA, and taught Rich Gross. Sensei Gross then went on to be the instructor for Sensei Paul Maglionico who is head instructor at the Mountain Karate Academy where Tyler trains. Grandmaster Son is one of the top Martial Arts Masters in the world, and it's exciting to know that Tyler is being trained by this generation of apprentices.

Instructor Paul is very good with the kids, and he really enjoys teaching his skills to them. Tyler is looking forward to the day he gets his yellow belt.

Tyler in Scouts

This past year Tyler joined the local Cub Scout Pack. This year he is in the Tiger Den which is the first level of scouting. Next year he'll move up to the Wolf Den. Anyway, a few weeks ago each Den did a little talent show for the Pack. Here's Tyler with his Tiger Denmates (there is only 3 of them) doing a little song. You can see who the microphone hog is. This Wednesday we'll be heading to the Karate Academy for a Den Go-See-It.

Tyler's Birthday Party

My son Tyler had his 7th birthday party at a bowling ally yesterday with his classmates and friends. He got lots of Star Wars gifts (he's so into Star Wars), and a real bowling pin the people at the bowling lane gave him that all the kids signed and he could take home for a keepsake/remembrance. The kids all bowled 2 games, had a hotdog & soda then cake. Of course they put the bumpers up for the kids, and one tiny little girl bowled a 114. I think all the kids had a good time, and I know Tyler will remember this birthday.